Defiant: 5 (Noble Passions) by Sabrina York Page A

the floor and grabbed one
of the damp shirts to wipe his belly. Sophia watched with avid interest. This
made him flush more.
    She grinned.
    He caught her expression and winced. “Your brother is going
to kill me.”
    “No, he won’t.” She plopped down on his chest and stared up
at him.
    “He absolutely will.”
    “We won’t tell him.”
    He frowned at her. “You shouldn’t have done that.”
    “You were having trouble sleeping.”
    “I was not,” he sputtered.
    “You were.”
    “Regardless, that is beside the point.”
    She tipped her head. “Was there a point?”
    “Yes. There was.” He had to think for a moment to remember
it. “You shouldn’t have done that.”
    “Didn’t you enjoy it?” She put out a lip, though she knew he
had. He’d enjoyed it a lot if his moans and cries were any measure.
    He frowned. “That does not signify.” Though he was arguing
with her, he was not insisting she move away. Which was promising.
    “It signifies very much.” She glanced at him through her
lashes. “ I enjoyed it.”
    “You-you did?” He softened, gazed at her, his lips slack.
And then he recalled himself. “But you should not have done that. Sophia,
gentle ladies do not…” He flourished a hand about his crotch.
    “Tug a tallywag?”
    His eyes bugged out. “Where did you hear that term?”
    She shrugged. He didn’t need to know. “Point being, I always
wondered.”
    “Well, stop wondering. Until you’re married.” He seemed to
rethink that. “And even then.”
    “Oh, I wonder about lots of things,” she sighed. “They don’t
tell us much in those fancy English schools, you know.”
    “I imagine not.” He jerked the placket closed and fastened
his trousers.
    “For example, I wonder what that would taste like.”
    He froze. Slowly his attention lifted from his frantic
fastening to her face. His Adam’s apple worked. “What, ah, what would taste
like?”
    “That.” She pointed to the shirt he’d tossed onto the floor.
“And that.” She pointed to his safely secured, aforementioned tallywag.
    For some reason, his breath seized. He wheezed mightily.
Another bulge formed in his trousers. “Jesus, Mary and—Sophia!” He grabbed her
wrist as she cupped him again.
    “Is it always hard?” she asked.
    He gusted a laugh and muttered beneath his breath something
that sounded like around you . Then he firmly, resolutely, dragged her
hand away from the object of her interest.
    “You understand my curiosity. They never tell us anything.”
    “For good reason. You’re dangerous.”
    “I am not.” She pouted. She wasn’t. Not hardly.
    He yanked the blankets up over her legs and then pooled the
rest about his lap as though that area needed additional defenses. “Come here,”
he said tugging her against him. She was charmed by his desire to hold her
until she realized he was only doing it to keep her still. Indeed, he grabbed
her hand and held it in his when she once again began foraging. “Tell me what
else you are curious about.”
    This was clearly a ploy to distract her. She would not allow
it. He’d allowed her to creep this close. It encouraged her to creep closer
still. “Well, I often wonder how it is done.”
    “ It? ”
    “You know.”
    His muscles tightened. “I am not explaining that.”
    “And I’ve often wondered…” She paused. For effect. “If women
enjoy it.” She peeped up at him. In time to see him pale.
    “If they did not, there would be no babies, Sophia,” he said
gruffly.
    “Oh, I know, Ned. But I don’t really understand.”
    “Understand what?”
    “What it feels like.”
    He stilled.
    “What it feels like to have a man’s hands touching me. His
lips kissing me. His body over mine, thrusting—”
    “Sophia!”
    “I’d like to know. Just once.”
    “You will.” He set his chin on the top of her head, most
likely so he didn’t have to look at her. The coward. “One day you’ll be married
to a horribly wealthy man and you’ll